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^ ^ e i in er alter FORECASTS FOR MANAGEMENT DECISIONMAKING 1729 H St. NW, Washington, DC 20006-3938 • kiplingerbiz.com • Vol. 84, No. 16 Dear Client: It's all but a done deal. Reeulation of greenhouse gas emissions is coming. Some states are already moving to impose caps. By early in the next decade, the fads are likely to curb emissions as well. ® Losers are obvious: Power plants. ' Automakers. Most users of electricity. But companies that look ahead, basing decisions on what is coming later, can minimize the pain. So who's likely to come out a winner? Alternative energy firms, of course. The category spans quite a broad range: Those involved in power production from wind, solar, ethanol, geothermal and biomass... making the equipment, building the plants and selling the green energy to end users. Washington, April 20, 2007 / 1 1' ~ GDP 2%-2.5% for the year .................................... .. . .. . .......... N . ............... .. . . Interest rates .......... Prime ending '07 at 8.25% ............................................................. Inflation .......... Just over 2% for the year ............................................................... Employment .... ... 1.3 million more jobs ............................................................. . .. Trade deficit Narrowing to $740 billion, 5.4% of GDP ..................................... . .. . .......... ................ .. . .. Crude oil Averaging $60 a barrel Housing sales .......... Falling 8.5% .............................................................. Retail sales Slowing to 3.5% growth Cornpiete economic outlook at klplingerbii.conl/ouNooks `: '. There'll be many other success stories. The suppliers to the alt-energy firms: Zoltek and other manufacturers of composites used in wind turbine blades. Steel producers, who benefit from more demand for ethanol vats, pipelines and turbines. AgriPower, BeUtilityFree, Landfills+ and others that sell systems for collecting methane to use in powering generators. Suppliers to the nuclear industry: Allegheny Technologies, a maker of specialty metals such as titanium alloys used in these plants. Sulzer Pumps and other vendors of heavy-duty pumps for cooling systems. Businesses aimed at cleaninf~ up fossil fuel energy emissions: Those such as Foster-Miller and Pegasus Technologies, which make systems that remove airborne pollutants from coal plant emissions. And those such as E.ON U.S. and PPL Corp., which develop new coal-fired power plants that produce little or no pollution. Further down the road, services to move carbon dioxide to underground seams for storage should mean a boon for geology firms and for vendors of drilling equipment and steel pipes. Products and services to better manage energy supply and demand: Everything from smart meters that display real-time use and price data to microelectronics that allow manufacturers to automatically adjust use. Information technology that lets grid managers trade power on the spot with multiple partners. Heat-and-power units that convert waste heat into electricity. Renewable energy brokers. Energy management consultants. Winners run the gamut from big energy players such as Siemens and Johnson Controls to lesser-knowns such as Itron, Green Mountain Power, Areva, Elster Electricity, Comverge and EnerNOC. (More on page 2.) The Kiplinger Leiter (ISSN 1528-7130) is published weekly for $117lone year, $199/lwo years, $263/three years SubSCnpfiOn inquiries: 800-544-0155 or subsernces@Wplinger.com by The Kiplinger Washington Editors, 1729 H St., NW, Washington, DC 200063938. Editorial in(ortnahOn: Tel. 20?-887-6462; Fax, ?02 778-89 76; POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Kiplinger Leiter, P.O. Box 3295, Harlan, IA 51593. E-mail, letters@kiplinger.com; or Web site, kiplingerbiz,com